Devotion
by serena221
Summary: Hayate and Himeno haven't come together completely after the battle with the great tree fenrir. so what happens when another battle ensues with one left over demon larva that's grown to big for it's bug body? one shot, fluff warning


A short Pretear fan-fic by Serena221

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pretear characters.

AN: So I was watching Pretear just today and finished it. I love the anime, so I thought I'd go looking for a story to read. I didn't find anything that was to my liking, so I wrote one. this is a one shot, and is fluffy.

This is just going to be a short story of what happened after Himeno beat the Great Tree of Fenrir. It's about Himeno and Hayate. But it's also what happens when the Leafe knights find out they missed a demon larva that's grown to big for it's bug body and now is taking over human bodies.

* * *

Down beneath the Earth's surface, in a sewer tunnel, a demon larva awakes. It grew, feeding off the Leafe of the stream slowly. Unsuspecting, a lone human entered the tunnel, not knowing what they would find.

Himeno sat in her room, reading a story to Mannen, Hajime, Shin, and her beautiful plants. "At last he came into a chamber all gilded with gold, where he saw upon a bed, the most wonderful sight that had even met his eyes - a princess, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years of age, and whose bright and rosy beauty was quite angelic. He approached with trembling and admiration, and fell down before her upon-"

"Aw man, this story was cool until you got to the mushy part. Who wants to hear about someone kissing another person? Gross," Mannen said, interrupting Himeno.

"Yeah," cheered Hajime and Shin.

Himeno smiled softly at the three boys. "Alright then, I suppose it was to much to expect you boys to understand a romance story," she said.

In a flash of red light, Goh appeared behind the boys. "What do you expect Himeno. They're just boys; they don't understand anything good. Way to young," he said looking down at said boys.

"Hey," Mannen protested angry.

"Come on, you three have training anyway. Let's go. Kei is waiting," Goh said.

"Aw man, why do we have to train anyway," Hajime said.

"There's no demon larva, the Leafe is safe, so why train?" Mannen said.

"Because, twerp, you never know when the Leafe knights will be needed again. Don't you want to be seen as a hero, instead of a slacker because you weren't prepared?" Goh said, leaning down to look into Mannens' eyes.

Mannen stemmed for a minute, then huffed "fine." He, as well as Shin and Hajime disappeared to go find Kei.

"Thanks for watching them, Himeno," Goh said.

"No problem. Hey, have you seen Hayate? I haven't seen him all day," she said.

"No, I haven't. We all thought he was with you," Goh said surprised.

Himeno looked down saddened for a moment, but smiled back up at Goh. "Thanks anyway," she said.

"Sure, see you later," Goh said disappearing just as the boys had before.

Himeno sighed lightly, wondering where he could have gone. Ever since she woke after their last battle, Hayate had been very distant. Every time she saw him, he was still somewhat kind, even though he teased her. But she hadn't seen him as much as before. She wondered if he'd changed his mind about loving her. Did he fall for her because there was numerous battles going on, and he was falling back on someone to lean on? And now that he didn't need help, was he tired with her?

She shook her head. No, there had to be some reason why he wasn't around as much. She shouldn't let her mind think of the bad things that could be. Himeno looked to the sky, wishing she knew what was happening with Hayate.

Hayate walked threw town. He had no where to go. '_Who am I to think I deserve Himeno. She's too strong and kind to be with a man like me. It's so hard to show her what I feel, and then when she looks at me… I don't deserve to have Himeno by my side,_' Hayate thought.

"Hayate, I've been looking for you everywhere," Sasame said appearing before his friend. "I found something, but don't know what to make of it. You need to come now."

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Himeno?" Hayate asked, worried.

"No, I think it's a demon larva. Hurry," Sasame said jumping to the air.

"Demon larva? But I thought they were all gone," Hayate said, transforming into his knight cloths and following Sasame.

"I did too, but that's just it. This one I found is different. It looks like it's been destroyed, but the shell still remains. I need you to look at it," Sasame said.

After a few minutes of flying, they landed near a sewer entrance. "I felt something like a demon larva and followed it in there. But all I found was the thing torn in two," Sasame said.

"Alright, let's take a look," Hayate said walking into the tunnel.

They walked in silence for a few minutes till they came to the remains of the demon larva. Crouching down next to it, Hayate studied the larva. "It seems to have taken some of the waters Leafe, but didn't take root. But you're right, this does look weird. How did it die, or is it even dead?" Hayate said.

"You think it abandoned its shell? Can it do that?" Sasame asked.

"It's not like we haven't seen something like this before. Let's keep an eye out, and inform the others. Let's leave Himeno out of this till we find anything positive. She doesn't need to worry any more then she already has," Hayate said.

"Are you sure? Himeno might get the wrong impression if we leave her out of this," Sasame said.

"Yes, I'm sure. When things start to get serious, then we'll let her know," Hayate said.

"Alright, I'll go alert Goh and Kei, then head out searching for any thing out of the ordinary," Sasame said.

"Good, I'll meet you back at Leafinia later," Hayate said. Both men disappeared from the tunnel, on their way to search for clues.

A lone woman walked down the street. Her skin was pale and her eyes were a dazed, light yellow. Every step she took seemed to darken the ground she walked. People avoided her as she walked, making a wide circle around her. _This world will be mine. I will rule it all. They will pay for destroying everything. But first, I must find a better body. This human's depression isn't enough to keep me fueled. I need more despair, more suffering souls._

Hayate hovered outside of Himenos' window. After a few minutes, she noticed him and opened the large windows for him. He landed inside only having a split second before being hugged by Himeno. "Where have you been, I haven't seen you in days," she said.

"I've been, busy," he said. "Sorry for being gone."

She shook her head, "no, it's ok. As long as you're here now." She hugged him again, burying her face in his chest.

Hayates face held a look of slightly shocked and surprised. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back. "Himeno," he started. "Himeno, wh-what do you really think of me?"

Himeno looked at him odd for a moment, "well, sometimes you're a bit mean, and can be very bossy. But you're caring, and sometimes kind. And you're funny. Which is why I love you, Hayate. I can joke around with you, and you with me, but we both still care for each other very much."

"Himeno. I- I think you should-"

"HIMENO! I got something to show you," Himeno's father singed bursting in the door just before getting karate kicked out the door by a furious Himeno.

"What are you thinking bursting into a womens' room like that," Himeno yelled, fire in her eyes. She blinked and turned around remembering Hayate was there. But all she found was empty space.

Outside, Hayate was next to her window, holding his rapidly beating heart. If Himeno beat up her father for just entering her room, what would she do with him for breaking up with her? An image played across his mind of Himeno laughing over a grave marked 'Hayate'.

Although he didn't want to leave her, he didn't think he was worthy of her. He wanted her to find someone who would treat her the way she should be treated. Care for her the way he did. Maybe even love her.

**A few days later**

"Kei, Sasame, have you found anything yet?" Hayate asked as the small group hovered over the town.

"No, we have found small spots where Leafe has been minutely drained. But we cannot find the source anywhere nearby," Kei said.

"Keep looking," Hayate said.

"I found something," Goh said appearing near the group.

"Show us," Sasame said.

All three knights followed Goh as he flew rapidly threw town. Landing in an ally, Goh pointed to the nearby shadows. There, lay a young woman, curled up into a ball. Her eyes were blank, as if there was nothing there. Hayate kneeled next to her, looking her over.

"She's been- drained," he said surprised.

"Of Leafe?" asked Kei.

"No, of emotions," he answered. "She looks like Mawata-Chan when she was inside the tree of Fenrir. All her emotions have been drained, used as energy for… something."

"Could she be what the demon larva was using to get around? Kind of a host for it to feed off of while it gathers Leafe," asked Sasame.

"That's the only explanation. It also explains why we couldn't sense it. It was using a human body to hide its presence. Now it could be in anyone," Hayate said.

"So this demon larva is now snatching human bodies and draining them of their emotion for energy. How are we going to fight that?" asked Kei.

"I don't know. But first we'll have to find the human host it's in now. And find a way to help the human's it's drained. Goh, take her to Leafinia. We'll be able to help her better from a place where we're not likely to be spotted. Kei, Sasame, start searching for humans who are depressed. That's what the larva will be looking for as well," Hayate said standing.

Goh picked up the limp woman, "what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find Himeno. We may have a better chance searching with the Pretears' powers," Hayate said.

"Alright," everyone said, before disappearing.

"Himeno!"

"Hayate," Himeno asked looking up just as Hayate appeared. "What's up?"

"There's been a problem. A demon larva survived. Now it's using humans as hosts to drain their emotions and gather Leafe. We nee-"

"Demon larva? When did this happen," she asked jumping to her feet.

"A few days ago. Sasame found the remains of a demon larva. We need your help," Hayate said.

"Days ago? And you didn't come and find me right away?" Himeno said.

"We didn't want to worry you if it wasn't serious. Now come on, times wasting and people are getting hurt. I'll tell you the rest on the way. Pret with me," he said.

Himeno watched him for a long moment, fuming that he hadn't told her earlier, but gave him her hand anyway. They came together forming the wind Pretear. Himeno jumped to the air from her balcony, "so tell me what happened," she said.

_Sasame felt a demon larva, but when he went to check it out, all he found was a shell. He came and got me and showed me. The knights and I have been searching for any signs of whatever happened to it, if anything happened to it. Finally, Goh found a woman who'd had her emotions drained like Mawata-Chan when she was part of the tree. We figure it's stealing bodies to use their emotions as energy while it gathers Leafe._

"Then we have to find it and stop it before it hurts to many people," Himeno said.

Kei appeared next to Himeno, flying with her. "We've found two more people who've been affected. They're in Leafinia now."

"We have to hurry, the thing is spreading fast if it's gotten two more people since the last one you just found," Himeno said.

"HIMENO," someone yelled out making her and Kei stop. Goh, Sasame, and the other knights were quickly flying towards them. Behind them, darkness was spreading across the ground.

"What happened," Himeno asked.

"We think we found the human that the larva's taken over. But I think we're too late. It's gathering Leafe at an alarming rate and none of our attacks are working on it," Sasame said.

"The larva must have found someone with enough dark emotions to fuel it to going threw with whatever plan it has," Goh said.

"Let's hurry then. We have to stop it," Himeno said.

The group flew towards the source of the darkness. As they drew closer, they could see the person clearly. They were standing in front of a dried out fountain, smirking. Dozens of people lay on the ground, all in the same state as the first woman that was found. As everyone landed on the ground, it moved forward. The human body crumpled to the floor as a strange woman appeared. Her orangish skin was covered in green scales, her eyes were large and yellow with thin black pupils, and her hair was long and flowing colored a dark red with streaks of black. "Welcome, Leafe knights and Pretear."

"You need to stop this. You're hurting many people," Himeno yelled.

"Oh, just like you hurt my brothers and sisters? Ha, where they all have failed, I will prevail in taking over this world. All the Leafe will be mine," it said.

"Like hell you will," yelled Goh, throwing a ball of fire at her. She laughed, after it bounced off her. "What are you?"

"Let me introduce myself. I am Charna, queen of the demon larva, and soon to be ruler of the world," she said, laughing once more.

"I won't let that happen," Himeno yelled.

"Try me, Pretear. I've advanced beyond that of your normal demon larva. You're attacks might have worked before, but they won't now. And now since I have enough energy to sustain myself, and enough Leafe, I can now control the larva," she said. She threw her hand out throwing several larva pods to the ground. Immediately, they began to awake and grow in size. "Attack them, but bring the Pretear to me. I wish to finish her off myself."

"Protect Himeno," yelled Goh.

"No, everyone concentrate on stopping the larva and getting the people to safety. I'll take care of Charna," Himeno said, creating the wind sword. She flew across the ground, dodging the demon larva, and came up to Charna. She swung her sword, aiming for her head. But at the last moment, Charna brought up her arm stopping the attack with the scales that covered her.

"I told you before, I'm better then the old larva you use to fight. I'm stronger, tougher, and am completely protected by my armor. You. Cannot. Defeat. ME!" she yelled, pushing Himeno back.

She flipped in the air, then landed with her sword ready. "I'll stop you one way or another," she said. '_If I become the white Pretear, I may have the power to-_'

_You can't, _said Hayate's voice. _If you do, you could die. And you might not come back this time. I'm not going to loose you Himeno. We can find a way!_

"Hayate?" she said amazed. He sounded concerned, and scared. "Hayate, if it's the only thing that will beat her, then I have to. To protect everyone."

_We'll find a way. Just don't give up your life Himeno. You can't leave me!_

Himeno didn't respond. Her mind was already made up, but she would try first, for Hayate. She rushed at Charna once more, hitting her several times with her wind sword, but nothing was working. Finally, Charna lashed back, making Hayate protect Himeno, and sending her flying. Demon larva swarmed around her, picking her up by her arms, legs, throat, and waist. "See, what did I tell you Pretear? You cannot win against me. And now you, and all your friends, will die." Charna said, walking slowly towards her.

'_Hayate, please know, that I love you very much._' Himeno thought.

_Himeno, NO!_

Himeno closed her eyes and undid the Pret. There, Hayate stood in front of her, protecting her with his sword. "Himeno, you idiot. We could have gotten free and beaten her." He yelled, not turning from his protective stance.

"Very touching, she's sacrificing herself so you can live. Not likely. You'll die soon too. But, I don't want you interrupting my fun. Get him out of my site," Charna said.

Hayate tried to fight back, but three overgrown demon larvas had attacked him and knocked him away from Himeno. "Himeno!" he tried yelling.

"You aren't going to win," Himeno choked out.

"Really, you think so? Cause it certainly looks like I'll win. All I have to do now is drain all of your Leafe, and you'll be dead," she smirked.

"Not while I'm here, you won't." Himeno closed her eyes tightly, concentrating very hard on becoming the white Pretear. But nothing was happening. '_Why- why isn't it working?_'

Charna walked closer, finally putting her hands around Himeno's neck. "I'm going to enjoy squeezing the life out of your lungs while I drain all your Leafe," she laughed.

"Himeno!" yelled Hayate, and so did the other knights, in response to seeing Himeno in trouble.

'_Their power. I can feel them sending it to me. But I- but I still can't do it._' Himeno thought.

"Himeno, you can't die. I love you too, Himeno," Hayate yelled.

Himenos' eyes opened wide hearing Hayates' words. It was the spark that she needed to become the white Pretear. Leafe flowed out in abundance as the demon larva around her disintegrated. Charna stepped back, holding her arms over her face. Himeno's cloths changed to that of the pure white dress and wings that were the white Pretears. Without a word, Himeno held out her hands in front of her, cupping them together. Charna screamed as suddenly, all her Leafe was being pulled from her and sent back into the world.

Where as Himeno held a soft, angelic face the first time she became the white Pretear, now it was mad, strait, and serious. "I will not let you harm this world or these people any more," she said.

As Charnas Leafe was leaving her, the demon larva that had kept the knights at bay disintegrated. Charna herself eventually shrunk down to a demon larva, then a demon pod. "Shin," she called, bringing the small boy forward to the demon pod. He held out his hands around his necklace. Vines sprang forth from it and carried the demon pod to the necklace where it was sealed. Around them, the people slowly came back to themselves.

"Himeno," cried Hayate as the white Pretear fell to the ground, becoming just Himeno once more. He ran over to her, falling to his knees and picking her small form off the ground. She was still, and cold in his arms.

"Hayate, is she…?" asked Mannen.

"No," was his quiet but angry response.

"Hayate?" asked Kei.

"No, I'm not going to let this happen," Hayate said louder. "She's not leaving me. I won't allow it."

"Hayate, she's not dead," Sasame said in his usual calm manor.

Hayate looked up at the sound knight shocked. "What?"

"It's very small, but she still has a heart beat. The white Pretear uses up a lot of Leafe, but Himeno wasn't giving only hers away. Himeno was using both hers and Charnas Leafe to bring the earth back to life. She was able to keep some for herself. She only needs more to continue living. The question is will she wake," Sasame said.

Hayate looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms. She wasn't dead, so there was still a chance. Without a word, he shot up into the air, heading towards the door of light to Leafinia. He could help here there, in the same chamber they helped Sasame. She would live.

A few minutes fly was turned into a few seconds because of Hayates speed. He didn't even stop to walk threw the doorway. Only flew low enough to go threw it and flew onto the tree of Leafe. He landed on the ground in front of the trees opening and ran inside. Moving aside some of the vines, something shin would have done easier if he was there, Hayate maneuvered Himeno into the sphere. It instantly came to life, beginning to glow around her body as it slowly fed her Leafe.

A few minutes later, the other knights arrive, panting from rushing so much. They all waited in silence as Himeno healed; the day passed as everyone waited impatiently. The children eventually fell asleep, and the other knights slumped against the walls on the floor. Hayate was the only one to not move once, only keeping his eyes on Himeno as he stood in front of the chamber. Finally, as night fell, the chamber grew dim, indicating that Himeno's Leafe was back to normal.

"Shin," Hayate said, waking the boy. He rubbed his eyes as they focused on the orb. When he realized he was being called to let Himeno free, he rushed over to the side and put his hands on the vines. They quickly moved away allowing Hayate to take Himeno into his arms.

She was still sleeping.

"Hayate, she may not wake you know," Kei said.

"She will, she just needs a few days rest. I will take her home," Hayate said calmly, though coldly.

Nobody said anything as he walked out carrying her. No one wanted to acknowledge his wishful thinking, but yet no one wanted to believe that he was wrong.

He walked along till he came to her home, then floated up to her room. He set her gently down on the bed, laying her so she looked peaceful. His hand traced the side of her face and grasped her hand as he bent close to her. '_Please, just once more. Let this work just once more_' he pleaded as he leaned down and gently kissed her lips. After a long moment, he pulled back and looked at her closed lids. Nothing. They weren't moving.

Hayate fell to his knees by the bed, his hand still holding hers. "Himeno, please wake up. Wake up for me. I want you beside me Himeno. I want to be with you forever Himeno. I promise I won't leave you. I'll do anything, just please, wake up," he pleaded, tears in his eyes. After a few moment of no response, his head fell to the bed as tears now flowed free.

The night passed and morning brought a beautiful sunrise, but it went unnoticed by Hayate. Tears ran down from his eyes all night as he watched her. As the first light hit her face, she winced slightly. Hayate's heart skipped as he saw her eyes move. Slowly they opened, and searched out for whatever she could find. They quickly found Hayate's. He smiled, excited to see her awake.

"H-Hayate?" she asked. But before she could say anymore, he hugged her tightly.

"Don't ever do that to me again. I thought I was going to loose you," he said. He pulled back looking into her eyes, stroking her hair. "I love you so much Himeno."

She smiled, "I love you too, Hayate."

"I don't want you to ever leave me again. Himeno, please. Marry me?" he asked.

Himeno was shocked, but happiness showed threw her face. "Hayate, yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

AN: so what do you think? good or bad? i don't know. i started it today and was determined to finish today. flames welcome so i can later improve it.


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